PBL 2019 Facilitators

Phil Duker

Phil Duker, Music

Philip Duker, Associate Professor, Music Theory joined the faculty at the University of Delaware in 2009. He is a former fellow at the University of Michigan’s Institute for the Humanities, an experience that broadened his interdisciplinary research interests. Many of his research interests lie at the intersection between music and the humanities, including instrumental theatre and the visual/bodily aspects of performance, rhythm and temporality, philosophy and aesthetics, critical theory and the relationship between performance and analysis.

Jacqueline Fajardo

Jackie Fajardo, Chemistry & Biochemistry

Jacqueline L. Fajardo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of Delaware. Prior to this, she taught courses in general chemistry, scientific writing, and principles of scientific inquiry. Dr. Fajardo also collaborated with high school teachers on their implementation of active-learning pedagogies within their own classrooms. Currently, her primary teaching responsibilities include the first year integrated general chemistry course sequence at UD. She also serves as Co-Director of the local chapter of the Center for the Integration of Teaching, Research, and Learning (CIRTL), a future faculty training network, and is co-author on a number of national American Chemical Society standardized examinations. Dr. Fajardo has a profound appreciation for the promotion of higher order thinking skills in both small and large classroom settings and is eager to pursue approaches that facilitate student acquisition of these skills.

Kevin Guidry

Kevin Guidry, Center for Teaching and Assessment of Learning
Kevin R. Guidry is Associate Director of Educational Assessment at the UD Center for Teaching and Assessment of Learning. He works with faculty on exploring new pedagogies and improving existing teaching practices to enhance student learning. Guidry specializes in assessment of student learning and survey methodology having worked on teaching, learning, and assessment research and practice at levels ranging from individual courses to projects spanning hundreds of colleges and universities.

Stacie Larkin

Stacie Larkin, Center for Teaching and Assessment of Learning

Stacie’s background in physical therapy education makes her a valuable resource for those teaching in the healthcare disciplines. Prior to joining CTAL, Stacie was the Director of Clinical Education in UD’s Department of Physical Therapy for 19 years. In addition to her past teaching responsibilities, Stacie has experience with accreditation and program assessment. Stacie’s professional focus is: active learning, effective group learning design, mindful learning practices and experiential learning. In addition, she is the course instructor for UNIV 600- Learning, a course designed to prepare graduate students for teaching in a higher education setting.

Agnes Ly

Agnes Ly, Psychology

Dr. Ly focuses primarily on undergraduate teaching and advising. She is the Director of Undergraduate Advising for Psychology and Neuroscience majors. She also regularly teaches general psychology and statistics.

Dr. Ly’s scholarly research explores autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which ​is a lifelong developmental disability exhibiting impairments in social communication and interaction as well as stereotyped and restrictive behaviors and interests. Most recent estimates in the U.S. indicate that one child out of every 68 has a diagnosis. Grounded in family systems theory, Dr. Ly’s research focuses on both the marital and coparenting relationships, and especially as to how they relate to adaptive child functioning. Most recently, her research interests have included using a multi-method approach (i.e., interviews, surveys, behavioral coding of observations) to explore these family dynamics.

As a preceptor in the ISLL, Professor Oriade has contributed to the curricular redesign of an undergraduate physical science course for nonscience majors, SCEN 101. Under Dr. Oriade’s guidance, the high-tech learning experience of SCEN 101 students is enriched with dynamic group interactions that augment student skills in prediction, data acquisition and analysis, and scientific communication through regular electronic poster conferences. Professor Oriade utilizes his training in computational condensed matter physics to engage in the challenge of designing, implementing, and assessing learning tools for science educational purposes. These tools include project-specific rubrics that serve the needs of both students and graduate teaching assistants, design of group tasks, and development of nine new laboratory exercises grounded in the 5Es instructional model. He has also, in collaboration with others in ISLL, developed and implemented Origami Science FabLab/Makerspace (SCEN115). This unique course is designed for nonscience majors and employs Origami and paper sculpture manipulatives that enhance the active learning process of concepts rooted in science, art, and mathematics.

John Pelesko, Interim Dean, Arts & Sciences

John A. Pelesko, professor of mathematical sciences, was appointed interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in September 2018 with oversight of UD’s largest college of more than 7,000 undergraduate students and 1,100 graduate students, and over 50 academic departments, research institutes, interdisciplinary centers and programs.

He is a distinguished scholar and mathematician, with research on mathematical modeling of physical systems, especially micro and nanoscale engineered systems. He is also dedicated to student success and has conducted extensive research on integrating mathematical modeling, numerical simulation and experiment into undergraduate and graduate mathematics courses. Pelesko is the author of the highly regarded books Self Assembly: The Science of Things That Put Themselves Together, published in 2007, and Modeling MEMS and NEMS, published in 2002, as well as several book chapters and numerous research articles in scholarly journals.

Mark Serva

Mark Serva, Accounting & MIS

Mark A. Serva is an associate professor of management information systems at the University of Delaware. His research focuses are trust in electronic commerce and latent growth modeling. He is the former director for the Institute for Transforming Undergraduate Education (ITUE) at the University of Delaware, a leading advocate for PBL and other student-centered pedagogies. He is the current program director for the global enterprise technology (GET) program, which places students in extended internships in area companies. The program allows students to make significant progress toward graduation, while also defraying the costs of higher education. The program has placed 100% of its students since its inception in 2010. Dr. Serva has also worked as an educational consultant for over ten years, conducting PBL workshops around the United States and the world for UD and Harvard University.

Lydia Timmins

Lydia Timmins, Communication

Professor Timmins earned a PhD in Mass Media and Communication from Temple University in 2010 and a MJ (Master’s of Journalism) from Temple in 2001. She brings more than 20 years of experience as a professional television journalist to the University. She worked in large and small-market TV stations in the Midwest and East Coast of the United States, spending 14 years at Philadelphia’s NBC10 as a producer, writer and digital editor. She has worked on-air and been a director, producer, photographer and editor. She has covered stories including the Clinton impeachment hearings, 9/11, the GOP National Convention in Philadelphia and the Amish school shootings. Her research interests focus on local television news and the impact it has on the audience, news media ethics, digital convergence and the field of telepresence.

George Watson

George Watson, Former Dean, College of Arts & Sciences

George Watson is the founding director of the Institute for Transforming Undergraduate Education, created at UD in 1997 with an NSF Institution-Wide Reform grant to promote transformation of undergraduate education through faculty development and course design. In 2001, Watson and the ITUE team launched the PBL Clearinghouse. In 2004, he co-founded the Pan-American Network for Problem-Based Learning. His work on engagement of students in their learning and transformation of undergraduate curricula has taken him to 20 countries for work with institutions of higher education and more than 30 institutions across the United States. Watson’s two most recent course developments were a science and technology literacy course for non-science majors and an introductory electrical engineering course for sophomore mechanical engineering majors. His commitment to undergraduate education has been recognized with several teaching awards, including Outstanding Teacher in the College of Arts and Sciences in 2000 and Delaware Professor of the Year in 1998. From 2010-2018, Watson has served as Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Delaware.

Hal White

Hal White, Chemistry & Biochemistry

Hal White joined the University of Delaware Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1971. Between 1994 and 1998, he served as Principal Investigator on the first NSF/DUE grant on Problem-Based Learning (PBL) to the University of Delaware and was involved with subsequent NSF, FIPSE, and Pew Charitable Trusts grants for PBL. Currently he is an associate editor for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education where he writes commentaries on PBL. Hal has received numerous teaching awards including the 2011 Howard Barrows award for exceptional teaching from McMaster University, the 2013 CASE-Carnegie Foundation Delaware Professor of the Year, and the 2014 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education.